


To reign in hell

by Dissenter



Series: Cry havoc [3]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Flame Bonding, Historical References, Mafia Politics, Period-Typical Sexism, Women In Power, World War II, Worldbuilding, bamf Daniela, laws of succession, wartime Vongola
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-12-24 09:17:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12009696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dissenter/pseuds/Dissenter
Summary: Vongola Settimo has been arrested, his heir is dead, and his younger son unlikely to survive the night. His daughter steps up to lead.





	To reign in hell

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Night-Mare (Aoife)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aoife/gifts).



> Beltrano Falco the Mist is shamelessly stolen from Aoife, I took the liberty of adding a first name because I couldn't get the text to flow without one.

Daniela was at a party when the foundations of her whole life shifted without warning.

One moment she’d been watching with morbid curiosity as a young lightning that should have known better swaggered up to Tiberia. She wasn’t sure if he was aiming to bond with her or fuck her, but either way Tiberia wasn’t likely to be amused. Which, if nothing else would liven up an unbearably dull party. Daniela knew her duty, that as the princess of the Vongola it was vital that she be seen at such functions, that she networked properly, and kept tabs on the social situations between the allied families. That didn’t make it any less deathly boring though, and she’d found herself praying that Tiberia would lose her temper and eviscerate the idiot.

Then a messenger had arrived, and the sick chill of her intuition told her he had come for her. She was proven right when he came straight for her and whispered quietly in her ear to avoid causing a panic, and suddenly she couldn’t care less what the Cavallone did to the idiot lightning.

“Your father has been arrested.” The boy said, quietly but too clear to mistake. “Your brother Guido is dead, and your other brother Antonio is seriously injured. You are needed back at the main house. Now.”

It had taken all of Daniela’s expensive, mafia princess, high society training to maintain her composure as she politely made her excuses to the host, and left, without so much as hinting at the disaster that was unfolding. She couldn’t afford to. She had to try and pull the Vongola’s forces into some semblance of order, straighten out at least some of the chaos before anyone realised their weakness. Weakness was blood in the water to mafia families.

Guido was the _heir,_ with her father out of commission he should have been in charge. But he couldn’t take charge because he was dead, her brother was dead, and she couldn’t take the time to mourn him because her other brother was seriously injured, and that meant, with her father arrested she was the only one left to take command. To try and hold things together until they could get the Settimo back, or until Antonio recovered enough to take over. She was all that was left and yet she knew that she would probably have to kill someone before the family accepted that, before she could get them to listen to her because she was the princess, a woman, and the Vongola was not the Giglio Nero, they had never been willing to follow a Donna with the same respect they would a Don.

She couldn’t afford to mourn because coming from a woman it would be seen as weakness and that was something she could not afford. So she set her face like stone, and didn’t give so much of a hint that something was wrong, as she gracefully implied women’s troubles, and made her exit.

“What exactly happened?” She asked, once they were clear of the mansion, fixing an intent gaze on the messenger. Who she realised belatedly was an active Mist, which meant he wasn’t just a messenger, and that fetching her had probably been his own idea. Interesting. So the family as a whole hadn’t thought to call her. She wondered why this man had decided to fetch her anyway.

Probably several reasons. He was a Mist after all. He could be looking to undermine other elements in the family, he could be doing what he thought was best for the family as a whole, he might even be trying to curry favour with her, if he’d realised what few others had, that she was a stronger Sky than either her brothers or her father.

“The carabineri came for your father, I don’t know who tipped them off about his location, but someone must have, because there were too many of them to be a coincidence. Your brothers were both with him and tried to fight them off, but they were caught by surprise, and Antonio went down in minutes, they don’t know if he’ll wake up. Guido got shot through the eye by a sniper, killed instantly. The bastards knew exactly where to set up their ambush, and that there would be few guards.” He spoke a little too quickly, almost panicked, his exlaination was less organised than she expected and she realised abruptly that he was younger than she was. Still not used to giving reports, then, he must be new.

“How bad is Antonio?” Will he recover enough to take over, was the unspoken question, and the young Mist was smart enough to know that.

“They’re not sure. It’s bad though, the medics are working on him but, well he’ll be a long time recovering even if he does pull through.” She closed her eyes and breathed slowly, in and out. It was up to her then. She opened her eyes and the Mist twitched, she didn’t need a mirror to know that her eyes were burning Sky orange.

“What’s your name?” It was a command not a request and she could see the Mist shiver as he answered.

“Beltrano. Beltrano Falco, ma’am.” She smiled.

“And why did you come to get me, Beltrano Falco?” The Mist grinned at that, irrepressible as all of his flame type, clearly he’d been waiting for that question.

“I came to get you because the Vongola needs a Sky, and you’re all we’ve got left. I came to get you because your father’s men are arguing themselves to a standstill because they can’t see past what they think _ought_ to happen, to what needs to be done. I came to get you because you are needed, even if those stupid old men are too focused on their dicks and your lack of one to admit it.”

“And?” Intuition screamed at Daniela that he hadn’t told her everything, and she knew better than to ignore it.

“And you’re good. You’re _better_ than your brothers. They might be well trained and competent, and if these were ordinary times they would make perfectly reasonable bosses. But we’re at war, and you have a _gift_ for leadership that they would never have had, you have a strength to your Sky that they could never match.” There was a conviction in his eyes as he spoke that shocked her to the core. He must have been watching her before all this went down.

Mists did that, when they found a Sky they wanted. They watched them, quietly, covertly, they learned everything they could before they even _considered_ making a move, cautious and curious as cats. Storms challenged, Clouds taunted, but Mists, they watched and waited, and they didn’t make their offer until they’d _already_ made their decision, until they had lined up their arguments so that they could be almost certain of acceptance.

And that was what this was, she realised abruptly. He wanted her to be his Sky. It was unexpected, she had been sure she’d locked her Sky attraction down _hard,_ if he’d been able to sense it, to be drawn to it anyway, he must be a powerful Mist in his own right. Powerful and ambitious, to make such a bold move, such a bold declaration when one of her brothers wasn’t even in the ground yet.

“You want to be the Vongola mist guardian.” She pushed for a reaction, it was hard to get a straight answer from Mists unless you pushed.

“No, well yes, obviously I want that, but if that was all I’d wanted I’d have approached one of your brothers ages ago. Neither of them had Mists and I’m strong enough they wouldn’t have turned me away. I want to be _your_ Mist guardian, I’ve tasted the edges of your Sky, the strength of it, and it’s like nothing else I’ve ever felt.”

“Why approach me now?” She thought she knew the answer, but she was curious about his response.

“Because you need me now. Because you are about to go in to that roomful of squabbling underbosses and _force_ them to take you seriously, to follow you in spite of their precious traditions and assumptions about the proper place of women, and having a guardian bond to back you up will make all of that infinitely easier. I know why you’ve been holding back. You were trying to wait until after you were married, to make sure none of your guardians clashed too badly with your husband. I was going to wait until then, to make my offer, but the situation has changed. You’ll need guardians, if we’re going to war, and if you are Donna it’s not likely you’ll marry.”

“You don’t think my brother’s going to make it do you.” She said softly. He tensed slightly before admitting.

“No. I don’t think he will. I saw the look on the medics’ faces. I think we’ll be lucky if he’s still breathing when we get back.” She couldn’t cry, she couldn’t afford to cry, because that made her heir and the heir couldn’t afford to show weakness at a time like this.

“You don’t think we’ll be able to get my father back either do you?” She said instead, years of voice coaching the only thing holding her voice steady.

“I think” He said cautiously, “that it would be very stupid of the government to keep him alive considering who he is, and we aren’t lucky enough to have an enemy that stupid.” She nodded in acceptance. Breathed to steady herself, and focused on the situation at hand.

“Ok then.” She said, “Ok, I suppose that makes me Donna. Are you _sure_ you want to be mine. Things won’t be easy, with what’s coming.”

“I would follow you into hell.” He swore, serious and dramatic in that way that only Storms and Mists could really pull off.

“You might have to.” She responded absently, and with that she flared her flames, fierce and bright and _wanting._ There was no describing the feeling as his flames rose to match them, as indigo and orange twined together. The bond settled into place and he was _hers_. She hadn’t realised how much stronger it would make her feel.

…

The situation in the main hall was just as chaotic as she’d feared. A good few dozen family members all squabbling, and panicking, and trying to push foreward their own agendas. In the end she had to flare her Flames to get their attention.

“Silence.” She snapped, her voice amplified by her new Mist. The blaze of orange around her forcing the attention of everyone in the room. She pressed the advantage the shock of her appearance had granted her. “Are you Mafioso or gossiping fishwives?” She stepped towards the centre of the room.

“Alright, now that I have your attention. Anyone with _useful_ information on this situation can follow me to the main conference room, the rest of you can get back to work.” She waited then, and sure enough a moment later Claudio, one of her father’s underbosses spoke up.

“And who are you to be giving orders _Principessa.”_ There was a vague rumble of agreement from a number of others in the room, but that was fine. She’d been _expecting_ this.

“I am a Vongola Sky, the current acting head of the family, Claudio. And if you do not follow me I will kill you where you stand.” She hoped he would back down, she could see him hesitating, registering the burning orange of her eyes, and the way her Beltrano followed her movements, obviously a newly bonded guardian. And she saw the moment he let pride override caution.

“I will not let a little girl playing men’s games lead me to my death. The Vongola needs a strong leader, and you are not it.” Daniela didn’t flinch as Beltrano passed her crossbow with a bloodthirsty grin. She saw Claudio’s eyes widen as she took aim and fired a bolt of pure Sky flame right through his heart. As he fell to the ground his face was a mask of shock. She reloaded her crossbow as utter silence descended over the room.

“Anyone else have any objections to my taking charge.” Her voice rang out hard as steel, even as she swamped the room with her flames. No one said a word. “Alright then. Shall we get down to some _productive_ work then? We need to find out where they’re keeping my father, we need to work out what to tell the allied families, and most of all we need to track down the _rat_ who sold my father out.” The room remained frozen until she lost her patience and snapped at them. “Well, get to it.” She could hear her Mist’s faintly hysterical giggle at the sight of so many serious Mafioso cowed by a sixteen year old girl in a ballgown, and allowed herself to smile a little. The world was falling apart, she’d take her amusements where she could find them.

She had a feeling there would be little enough to smile about in the coming years.

…

She was right. Her brother died that night, and within the week they had confirmation that her father had been executed. Seven days after she was first informed of the situation. Vongola Ottava ascended to the leadership of the Vongola, and they were at war.

**Author's Note:**

> I give up, this has become a full blown series that I will add to whenever the impulse takes me and will probably never end. I really wish there were more canon characters to play with from this era. Anyone with specific requests go ahead and ask, and i'll see what I can do.


End file.
